Boy, 15, jailed for 3 month for attempted rape of 5-yr-old girl

By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos—A Magistrate’s Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State, has sentenced a 15-year-old boy to three months in prison for defiling a five-year-old girl.

The police prosecutor, Nyamvul Leshak, told the court that the boy committed the act on October 15, explaining that the teenager and the victim were neighbours at the Rukuba area of Bassa Local Government of the state, where the act was committed.

Leshak said the boy, who is a Primary 5 pupil, had lured the girl from a football field, where she was playing with her friends by giving her his shoes to take home for him. But as she got to the house and was about dropping the shoes, the boy surfaced and shut the door.

According to the prosecutor, he first tried to have carnal knowledge of her by first playing with her private part.

He said: “If not for a neighbour who came looking for one of the family members and heard the girl’s cry, he would had succeeded in having carnal knowledge of the girl.

“By fondling the girl’s private part, he (boy) had committed an offence contrary and punishable under Section 285 of the Penal Code of the Law of the Federation of Nigeria.

“The boy has by such act committed gross indecent act and assault,” he added.

The boy had pleaded guilty to the offences and prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, pledging that he would not do it again.

However, Magistrate Comfort Pam of Chief Magistrate’s Court VII sitting at Jos High Court, after hearing the case, sentenced him to three months imprisonment with an option of fine of N3,000.

According to her, “because this is his first time of committing this dastardly offence, I hereby sentence him to three months imprisonments at Juvenile Delinquent Centre, Jos, with an option of fine of N3,000.”

She cautioned the teenager against repeating the act as he risked getting a stiffer penalty.

She cautioned the victim’s parents not to allow such a small girl to wander away alone without any care.